SKorea: NKorea nuclear talks to resume
Negotiations on North Korea's nuclear program will resume this week for the first time in nine months, South Korea's nuclear envoy said Tuesday.
The talks had been on hold since October due to a dispute over North Korea's obligation to hand over a declaration of its nuclear program. Last month, Pyongyang turned in a partial declaration and destroyed the cooling tower at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex.
Host China was to announce that the six-nation talks which include China, Japan, Russia, the U.S. and the two Koreas would resume Thursday, Seoul's chief nuclear negotiator Kim Sook said before he departed to the Chinese capital for preparatory meetings.
The talks are expected to focus on how to verify the North's declaration.
In response to the North's submission of the declaration, the United States announced it would remove the North from a list of state sponsors of terrorism and also relaxed some economic sanctions against the communist nation.
But signaling potential difficulties in the negotiations, the North said last week it will not take further steps to dismantle its nuclear program until the U.S. and its other negotiating partners provide it with promised fuel oil and political benefits.
North Korea on Tuesday also rejected any possibility of summit talks with the South after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said he was willing to meet to speed up the North's dismantling of its nuclear programs.
The North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said it was "preposterous" for Lee to suggest such a meeting, accusing Seoul's conservative president of overturning previous agreements made between his predecessors and leader Kim Jong Il.
"Lee Myung Bak totally negated and ignored the summit meetings and declarations which were unanimously hailed and supported by the whole nation and world," the committee said in a statement, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
Lee, who opposes providing unconditional aid to the North, has said he would review previous summit agreements, especially one reached last year that calls for large-scale economic cooperation projects, to see if they are financially feasible.
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